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Description
April 2, 2019; Bellwood

The group gave themselves the chance to enjoy some normality at the end of their adventure. The Hands of Armageddon and Apple of Eden sat on the wall, out of evil hands and ready to be disposed of as soon as possible. The Assassins sat with their friends on the couches, ignoring the debris still lying around from when a giant hole was blasted in the wall. They'd sweep it under the rug, it'll probably be fine.

“Alright cool, thanks Steve,” Ruby said into her phone. She hung up her call and put the device back into her pocket. “Pizza's on it's way,” she told the group.

“Gnarly,” Kevin said.

“So Jacob?” Ava asked, turning towards Dusk. “I've been wondering: you said something about a whackjob earlier? What's that about? You said you'd tell us later.”

He didn’t answer right away, still watching the two artifacts. He shook himself awake and looked back. “Oh. Right. Well I told you guys I’d been working on something, that Abstergo’s been looking into things. Well, back when I first started I’d gotten a few tips from an… anonymous source. One of them was a handle by the name of ‘The Guiding Hand’. Kept talking about aliens and ancient artifacts and conspiracy theories. Granted, I am one of those theories, but that’s beside the point. I thought he was insane, but I’ve been keeping track of them purely for the intrigue. Like the SCP stuff. But…” He looked over to the Hands on the wall. “He described those things to a T, as if he’d seen them himself. Held them himself. Heck, he even described the cracks.”

“That's… bizarre,” Ruby said. “Any ideas on who he is?”

“I mean I’ve sent some messages to him when he’s hit on something that I’ve known about. I usually just get some vague crap about ‘if you don’t know me yet then it’s not time’ or ‘once your eyes have opened the truth will set us free’. Cryptic weird crap from someone trying to be wise and deep, you know? If he’s for real though… he’s described apocalyptic level devices. A furnace that never loses its sun, a music box that traps anything it reaches until it dissolves through it’s soul. Heck, he even predicted a robot uprising from the realm of the gods.” He shook his head. “Those aren’t recent either… the Hands just came up in the last month or so. Just before we knew about them.”

“How could he know about that though?” Cathy asked. “I mean, that thing's been locked in Area 51 for the past 80 years.”

“The man must have some damn good resources,” Jess said, putting a finger on her chin. “Even I didn't have access to Area 51.”

“Whatever it is… I need to find out who the guy is and where he’s getting this information from. It’s a huge breach of-”

He was cut off by a sudden knock at the door. His stomach growled and he hurried over. “Finally!” he exclaimed. The group looked to see the smiling pizza guy in the open door. Everyone's stomachs growled in excitement.

“Oh, hey Steve!” Dusk said.

“Ah hey guys!” Steve greeted back.

“You serve out here, too?”

“Ah yeah my place is really broad. Long drive but hey it pays the bills, ya know? Anyways here's your food. Hope you guys enjoy!”

He passed the pizza box into Dusk's hands and tipped his cap. The others called out their thanks as Steve turned to leave and Dusk closed the door behind him.

“He even gave us some cheese bread on the side!”

“I call first dibs,” Ben said, raising a hand.

The pizza box was set down and opened up, and the group began to tear in. Finally something nice and warming after this hectic week of literally fighting Satan. Ava was starting to hope this wouldn't be a pattern. Fighting the Devil twice is already too many times for her comfort level.

“I see the celebrations are going well!” a familiar voice invaded the room. The group turned, faces full of pizza, to catch sight of Professor Paradox popping in from his flash of blue light. “As they should. You all did splendid work!”

“All in a day's work, what can we say?” Ava smiled.

“Yes indeed. I'm very proud of you all. Now, we should probably wrap up these last few loose ends of ours.”

He pointed over to the Apple and the Hands of Armageddon, still glowing faintly on the wall.

“We can take them with us,” Gwen suggested. “It'll keep this universe safe, at least from our guys.”

“Anywhere’s better than here,” Jess agreed.

“Aw, does that mean it's about time for goodbyes?” Cathy asked.

“Yes I'm afraid so,” Paradox nodded. “This little visit was fun, but your guests do have very important matters that still need to be settled in their universe, as do you all with yours.”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could hold onto those instead. Just the Hands,” Dusk spoke up. He held a hand towards Chelsea, shutting her up before she could talk.

“You sure that's a good idea?” Gwen asked. “I mean that's how Eon got in afterall. If you guys keep it here you could have Vilgax coming through one day with an army of warships.”

“Well I’d keep it locked up. On the one hand, yeah, we could run into trouble later on, but 51 was studying it for a reason. My people might actually be able to find something useful behind it. At least if it’s with us, we’ll know right away when something happens.”

“Guess it is fair since we've got the Staff of Eden in our basement,” Catherine said, earning a dirty look from Chelsea. She stayed silent though.

“I want that back by the way,” Dusk quipped.

“You're not getting it back,” Chelsea stated.

“We’ll see. Anyways, Paradox, I would honestly like to keep it. Anything to help.”

The Tennyson crew turned their heads questioningly towards Paradox. He simply gave a slight smile and shrugged. “It won't cause any immediate trouble,” he said. “They can keep it if they wish.”

“Then we'll just take the Apple,” Ben nodded, walking over to the wall and picking the artifact off its stand.

The others stood from the couches, and joined up in one spot.

“So is this it then?” Ava asked.

Paradox nodded, and held up his pocket watch. He clicked it open, and in conjunction a ball of crackling reality opened up by his side. A doorway home for the Assassins’ guests.

“This was fun,” Ben told them. “Let's do this again some time.”

“We're counting on it,” Ruby smiled. “You guys are awesome to hang out with.”

“Right back at ya,” Kevin said. “You've got some good skills.”

“Then until we meet again,” Ava said. She reached out her hand, and shook those of the three. Everyone did the same, and a few hugs were thrown in for good measure. Then the guests from another world turned with Paradox towards the portal, and walked through. They disappeared out of sight behind the cracks in reality, and then, in a quick pop, the cracks sealed up, the portal closed in on itself, and the Assassins’ universe was fully theirs once again.

“What are our lives?” Chelsea asked after a few moments of silence.

“Few years of fighting the Devil, teaming up with aliens, and eating pizza at the end,” Cathy said, shrugging and taking another bite of Steve's delicious delivery.

“Sounds about right,” Jess agreed.

“Don’t forget promotion,” Dusk said.

“Oh dang you got promoted?” Cathy asked.

“I guess we've all got stuff we gotta take care of back home,” Ruby said. “We should start heading back to Indy. Help me move this thing into the van, would you?”

She motioned to Ava to grab the Hands of Armageddon off the wall. With a hefty heave, they hoisted the artifact up, and started walking it towards the exit. They loaded the ancient disk into the back of their van, shutting the doors behind it. Then, after one look back at the Bellwood hideout, the crew loaded themselves into the vehicle as well. The silent night air had the sound of the revving engine added to it, but even that disappeared soon as well as the car drove away into the desert distance, leaving Bellwood behind for what they hoped wouldn't be the last time.

“Wait what did Paradox mean by immediate trouble?”

Description
April 2, 2019; Bellwood

The group gave themselves the chance to enjoy some normality at the end of their adventure. The Hands of Armageddon and Apple of Eden sat on the wall, out of evil hands and ready to be disposed of as soon as possible. The Assassins sat with their friends on the couches, ignoring the debris still lying around from when a giant hole was blasted in the wall. They'd sweep it under the rug, it'll probably be fine.

“Alright cool, thanks Steve,” Ruby said into her phone. She hung up her call and put the device back into her pocket. “Pizza's on it's way,” she told the group.

“Gnarly,” Kevin said.

“So Jacob?” Ava asked, turning towards Dusk. “I've been wondering: you said something about a whackjob earlier? What's that about? You said you'd tell us later.”

He didn’t answer right away, still watching the two artifacts. He shook himself awake and looked back. “Oh. Right. Well I told you guys I’d been working on something, that Abstergo’s been looking into things. Well, back when I first started I’d gotten a few tips from an… anonymous source. One of them was a handle by the name of ‘The Guiding Hand’. Kept talking about aliens and ancient artifacts and conspiracy theories. Granted, I am one of those theories, but that’s beside the point. I thought he was insane, but I’ve been keeping track of them purely for the intrigue. Like the SCP stuff. But…” He looked over to the Hands on the wall. “He described those things to a T, as if he’d seen them himself. Held them himself. Heck, he even described the cracks.”

“That's… bizarre,” Ruby said. “Any ideas on who he is?”

“I mean I’ve sent some messages to him when he’s hit on something that I’ve known about. I usually just get some vague crap about ‘if you don’t know me yet then it’s not time’ or ‘once your eyes have opened the truth will set us free’. Cryptic weird crap from someone trying to be wise and deep, you know? If he’s for real though… he’s described apocalyptic level devices. A furnace that never loses its sun, a music box that traps anything it reaches until it dissolves through it’s soul. Heck, he even predicted a robot uprising from the realm of the gods.” He shook his head. “Those aren’t recent either… the Hands just came up in the last month or so. Just before we knew about them.”

“How could he know about that though?” Cathy asked. “I mean, that thing's been locked in Area 51 for the past 80 years.”

“The man must have some damn good resources,” Jess said, putting a finger on her chin. “Even I didn't have access to Area 51.”

“Whatever it is… I need to find out who the guy is and where he’s getting this information from. It’s a huge breach of-”

He was cut off by a sudden knock at the door. His stomach growled and he hurried over. “Finally!” he exclaimed. The group looked to see the smiling pizza guy in the open door. Everyone's stomachs growled in excitement.

“Oh, hey Steve!” Dusk said.

“Ah hey guys!” Steve greeted back.

“You serve out here, too?”

“Ah yeah my place is really broad. Long drive but hey it pays the bills, ya know? Anyways here's your food. Hope you guys enjoy!”

He passed the pizza box into Dusk's hands and tipped his cap. The others called out their thanks as Steve turned to leave and Dusk closed the door behind him.

“He even gave us some cheese bread on the side!”

“I call first dibs,” Ben said, raising a hand.

The pizza box was set down and opened up, and the group began to tear in. Finally something nice and warming after this hectic week of literally fighting Satan. Ava was starting to hope this wouldn't be a pattern. Fighting the Devil twice is already too many times for her comfort level.

“I see the celebrations are going well!” a familiar voice invaded the room. The group turned, faces full of pizza, to catch sight of Professor Paradox popping in from his flash of blue light. “As they should. You all did splendid work!”

“All in a day's work, what can we say?” Ava smiled.

“Yes indeed. I'm very proud of you all. Now, we should probably wrap up these last few loose ends of ours.”

He pointed over to the Apple and the Hands of Armageddon, still glowing faintly on the wall.

“We can take them with us,” Gwen suggested. “It'll keep this universe safe, at least from our guys.”

“Anywhere’s better than here,” Jess agreed.

“Aw, does that mean it's about time for goodbyes?” Cathy asked.

“Yes I'm afraid so,” Paradox nodded. “This little visit was fun, but your guests do have very important matters that still need to be settled in their universe, as do you all with yours.”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could hold onto those instead. Just the Hands,” Dusk spoke up. He held a hand towards Chelsea, shutting her up before she could talk.

“You sure that's a good idea?” Gwen asked. “I mean that's how Eon got in afterall. If you guys keep it here you could have Vilgax coming through one day with an army of warships.”

“Well I’d keep it locked up. On the one hand, yeah, we could run into trouble later on, but 51 was studying it for a reason. My people might actually be able to find something useful behind it. At least if it’s with us, we’ll know right away when something happens.”

“Guess it is fair since we've got the Staff of Eden in our basement,” Catherine said, earning a dirty look from Chelsea. She stayed silent though.

“I want that back by the way,” Dusk quipped.

“You're not getting it back,” Chelsea stated.

“We’ll see. Anyways, Paradox, I would honestly like to keep it. Anything to help.”

The Tennyson crew turned their heads questioningly towards Paradox. He simply gave a slight smile and shrugged. “It won't cause any immediate trouble,” he said. “They can keep it if they wish.”

“Then we'll just take the Apple,” Ben nodded, walking over to the wall and picking the artifact off its stand.

The others stood from the couches, and joined up in one spot.

“So is this it then?” Ava asked.

Paradox nodded, and held up his pocket watch. He clicked it open, and in conjunction a ball of crackling reality opened up by his side. A doorway home for the Assassins’ guests.

“This was fun,” Ben told them. “Let's do this again some time.”

“We're counting on it,” Ruby smiled. “You guys are awesome to hang out with.”

“Right back at ya,” Kevin said. “You've got some good skills.”

“Then until we meet again,” Ava said. She reached out her hand, and shook those of the three. Everyone did the same, and a few hugs were thrown in for good measure. Then the guests from another world turned with Paradox towards the portal, and walked through. They disappeared out of sight behind the cracks in reality, and then, in a quick pop, the cracks sealed up, the portal closed in on itself, and the Assassins’ universe was fully theirs once again.

“What are our lives?” Chelsea asked after a few moments of silence.

“Few years of fighting the Devil, teaming up with aliens, and eating pizza at the end,” Cathy said, shrugging and taking another bite of Steve's delicious delivery.

“Sounds about right,” Jess agreed.

“Don’t forget promotion,” Dusk said.

“Oh dang you got promoted?” Cathy asked.

“I guess we've all got stuff we gotta take care of back home,” Ruby said. “We should start heading back to Indy. Help me move this thing into the van, would you?”

She motioned to Ava to grab the Hands of Armageddon off the wall. With a hefty heave, they hoisted the artifact up, and started walking it towards the exit. They loaded the ancient disk into the back of their van, shutting the doors behind it. Then, after one look back at the Bellwood hideout, the crew loaded themselves into the vehicle as well. The silent night air had the sound of the revving engine added to it, but even that disappeared soon as well as the car drove away into the desert distance, leaving Bellwood behind for what they hoped wouldn't be the last time.

“Wait what did Paradox mean by immediate trouble?”